He's peeved that Deval Patrick is ________.
A. Popular.
B. Solving real problems.
C. Fixing Mitt Romney's budget crisis.
D. Making sure he visits the entire state in a timely manner.
E. All of the Above.
The correct answer is E.
My bro is mad that Deval Patrick used a helicopter to get to official state events, is currently driving a Caddy - leased by the state. My bro's pissed Deval is proposing to stop tax loopholes (the businesses will flee!) and is going to allow towns the option to create a meals tax (who will be willing to pay that extra dollar or two to eat in Nantucket?!).
Apparently, my brother has been reading the Herald a little too frequently. Sadly, it's easy to be angry at the world when reading the Herald; stirring up everyone's emotions is how they sell newspapers. So it's no wonder this story really bothered my brother. After all, why wouldn't it? Let's examine the article:
It's about the fact that Deval Patrick now has a state-leased Caddy, which is worth a cool $46,000. He's driving in style. In the story, the only people quoted are:
1. The State Republican Chairman
2. State Sen. Richard Tisei, the minority leader, a Republican.
3. State Sen. Bruce Tarr, another Republican.
I'm shocked they didn't even manage to find a Democrat - with just a handful of Republicans in the entire State House, their phone lines must be going off the hook with all these calls from the Herald. However, noticeably missing from the discussion are:
1. Anyone relevant to the facts
2. The manufacturer.
3. The State Police, who I assume are responsible for Patrick's transportation.
Heck, the Herald couldn't even manage a single differing opinion. Of course, they did bury this little nugget in there:
A Patrick aide said the car was selected from a short list of vehicles that meet state police security specifications. The aide said the governor had sought to obtain the same kind of car used by Romney but claimed that vehicle was no longer in production.But it was in between a barrage of Republican-hate. Basically, the entire article was just a platform for the Republicans to complain about Deval Patrick. It wasn't about the news, because the Herald refused to follow up on the key debate: did Deval Patrick even choose that car? The Patrick administration says no. Isn't that an easy thing to follow up on? Instead of going right back to the Republican State Chairman, who wouldn't have any expert knowledge on the subject whatsoever, how about calling the manufacturer to fact-check the Patrick administration? How about calling the State Police, or whoever is in charge of carting around Deval Patrick? How about calling anyone who is actually relevant to the story - not just Republicans who would love to take any opportunity to make a swipe at the Governor.
It's now been almost an hour since my brother last emailed me. This was the last point I made to him. Apparently, he had no way to refute it. Neither will any Republican, conservative, Herald-reader or Howie Carr fanboi. Why? Because the truth hurts. What an appalling Republican hit-piece, written directly by the Boston Herald. Even that tabloid-of-a-newspaper ought to have some standards.
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7 comments:
Did Deval even choose that car?
Gee, did Jane Swift even choose to order that helicopter?
This won't be the first time the SP hang a politician out to dry for thier actions.
The answer to both is probably no (and def no to Jane Swift, actually).
I think this stuff is going to bounce of Deval though, I was just annoyed at the hit piece - i mean "news article."
why couldn't he just drive Mitts old car wouldn't that make the most financial sense? Did the car just disappear with Mitt? or did it have too many miles on it from trips to IA???
The thing is, you can't ask Deval why - you have to ask the state police department. They're the ones who make up these rules.
So what's your take on the unprecedented hiring of a chief of staff for MRS. Deval Patrick at $72,000 a year of taxpayer money?
Even Kitty Dukakis - who really had a lot of charitable and state related work - didn't ask for that.
"MRS. Deval Patrick" has an actual name, you know. Other than that, I agree, the l'il woman should run around behind the Town Car and coordinate her own schedule. If we ever have a female governor, though, her husband, being an actual person, can have a COS because real people do real work.
Chuck Hunt spent 2 years doing tours with the Doric Dames, in addition to running his own business (look it up who he was). The last Governor's wife to have a scheduler was Kitty Dukakis, who had a part time person, and who really DID do a lot of charity work.
Is Diane Patrick giving up her law practice to be a full time state worker? Why else would she need what Mrs. Weld (also an attorney), Mrs. Cellucci (also worked full time) and Mrs. Romney (homemaker) did not?
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